{"id":26851,"date":"2025-08-02T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T04:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/?p=26851"},"modified":"2025-08-02T01:06:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T05:06:40","slug":"rahab-the-harlot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/people-in-the-bible\/rahab-the-harlot\/","title":{"rendered":"Rahab the Harlot?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the Book of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/biblical-topics\/hebrew-bible\/joshua-in-the-bible\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joshua<\/a>, Rahab (a heroine nonetheless known as \u201cRahab the Harlot\u201d) assisted two Israelite spies in escaping out a window and down the city wall of Jericho. Who was Rahab in the Bible? A Biblical prostitute or just an innkeeper? Did she live on the wall of Jericho or within it, in what is known to archaeologists as a casemate wall? Anthony J. Frendo addresses these questions about the life of Rahab in the Bible in the September\/October 2013 issue of <em>Biblical Archaeology Review<\/em>. Whether or not she was a Biblical prostitute, archaeology may at least be able to answer whether Rahab lived on or in the casemate wall of Jericho.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_26858\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/rahab-the-harlot.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26858\" class=\"wp-image-26858 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/rahab-the-harlot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"343\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/rahab-the-harlot.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/wp-content\/smush-avif\/2013\/09\/rahab-the-harlot-300x257.jpg.avif 300w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 400px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 400\/343;\" data-original-sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" data-smush-avif-fallback=\"{&quot;data-srcset&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/rahab-the-harlot.jpg 600w, https:\\\/\\\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/rahab-the-harlot-300x257.jpg 300w&quot;}\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-26858\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rahab the harlot? It may be a surprise to some readers, but Biblical prostitutes were commonly mentioned in the text. What was the profession of Rahab in the Bible? Here, she assists Israelite spies down what may be a casemate wall, within which her home may have been located. <em>Engraving by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Germany, 1860. Image: CCI\/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Rahab helped two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/biblical-topics\/bible-interpretation\/love-your-neighbor-only-israelites-or-everyone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Israelites<\/a> when they came to spy out the land of Jericho. She hid them on her roof when the king came for them. When the coast was clear, Rahab let the spies down by a rope through the window.<\/p>\n<p>So what do we know about Rahab the harlot? Was she a Biblical prostitute? The Biblical text identifies her as a <em>z\u00f4n\u0101h<\/em>, a prostitute (Joshua 2:1), but she seems more like a landlady. Indeed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/people-in-the-bible\/titus-flavius-josephus-and-the-prophet-jeremiah\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the first-century C.E. historian Josephus<\/a> reports that she kept an inn. The consonants that comprise the word \u201cprostitute\u201d in Hebrew are <em>znh<\/em>, which are the same consonants that comprise the Hebrew word for a female who gives food and provisions. The text doesn\u2019t describe Rahab\u2019s profession negatively, as one might expect from a description of Biblical prostitutes. The lifestyle of Rahab in the Bible continues to elude us. Whether we remember her as Rahab the harlot or innkeeper, she was a Biblical heroine.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"downloadFormSec esolshortwrap\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-md-3 col-sm-3 mb-4 mb-md-0\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-src='https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/israel-ebook3.jpg' class='esolsetnewimg smush-dimensions lazyload' width='200' style='--smush-image-width: 200px; --smush-image-aspect-ratio: 200\/259;' src='data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg=='>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-md-9 col-sm-9\">\n\t\t\t\t  <form method=\"post\" class=\"esol_fsubmit\">\n\t\t\t\t  <input name=\"action\" value=\"esol_single_ebook_formsubmit\" type=\"hidden\">\n\t\t\t\t  <input name=\"esol_ebook_id\" value=\"43931\" type=\"hidden\">\n\t\t\t\t  <input class=\"esol_ebook_title\" value=\"Israel: An Archaeological Journey\" type=\"hidden\">\n\t\t\t\t  <input name=\"esol_ebook_whatcounts_code\" value=\"E00\" type=\"hidden\">\n\t\t\t\t   <div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-sm-12\"><p>FREE ebook: <strong>Israel: An Archaeological Journey<\/strong>. Sift through the storied history of ancient Israel.\r\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-sm-6 d-none\"> \n\t\t\t\t\t\t  <div class=\"input-field\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input name=\"esol_fname\" type=\"text\" placeholder=\"FIRST NAME\" id=\"esol_fname\" class=\"\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<label for=\"esol_fname\" class=\"active\">First Name:<span class=\"clrRed\">*<\/span><\/label>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t  <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-sm-6 d-none\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t  <div class=\"input-field \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  <input name=\"esol_lname\" type=\"text\" placeholder=\"LAST NAME\" id=\"esol_lname\" class=\"\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  <label for=\"esol_lname\" class=\"active\">Last Name:<span class=\"clrRed\">*<\/span><\/label>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t  <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-sm-8\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"input-field esolinputwrappadd\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  <input name=\"esol_email_address\" type=\"email\" placeholder=\"Email Address\" id=\"esol_email_address\" class=\"\" required>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  <label for=\"esol_email_address\" class=\"active\">Email Address: <span class=\"clrRed\">*<\/span><\/label>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  <span class=\"helper-text d-block\">* Indicates a required field. <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"btn tempBtn waves-effect waves-light btn-block esolsetdes\" id=\"esol_submit_btn1\">SUBMIT<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-sm-12\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t  <label>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"esol_filled_in\" class=\"filled-in esol_filled_in\" checked=\"checked\" value=\"yes\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"esol_ccheck\"> If you don\u2019t want to receive the <em>Bible History Daily<\/em> newsletter, uncheck this box.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t  <\/label>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"more ebook_form_error_message\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t  <\/form>\n\t\t\t  <\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p>We may be able to understand the chronology of the story by examining whether Rahab lived <em>on<\/em> the wall of Jericho or <em>in<\/em> the city\u2019s casemate. The structure of the city wall varied in different periods in ancient Israel. In the Late Bronze Age, the time in which the story of Rahab in the Bible was set, thick defensive walls were common; people could conceivably have lived on them. During the Iron Age II period (sixth century B.C.E.), when the Book of Joshua was thought to have been edited, Israelite settlements were often surrounded by a casemate wall, which was comprised of two parallel walls with periodic perpendicular walls, forming casemates, or rooms, that people lived within. Analyzing the Hebrew words for \u201cwithin the wall,\u201d which described the residence of Rahab the harlot, along with the chronology of defensive construction in ancient Israel, Frendo suggests that Rahab lived on the wall. Frendo proposes that an editor changed the Hebrew to reflect that Rahab lived in the wall of Jericho within a casemate wall, rather than on top of a thick defensive wall, to make the text understandable to people in Israel during the late Iron Age.<\/p>\n<hr style=\"width: 33%;\" \/>\n<p><strong>BAS Library Members:<\/strong> Read the full article <strong>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/library.biblicalarchaeology.org\/article\/was-rahab-really-a-harlot\/\">Was Rahab Really a Harlot?<\/a>\u201d<\/strong> by Anthony J. Frendo as it appears in the <a href=\"https:\/\/library.biblicalarchaeology.org\/issue\/september-october-2013\/\">September\/October 2013 issue of <em>Biblical Archaeology Review<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Not a <em>BAS<\/em> Library or All-Access Member yet? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/subscribe-new\/?utm_term=W26009B0\">Join today.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><small><em>This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on September 23, 2013.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4 style=\"margin: 1.5em 0;\">Related reading in <em>Bible History Daily<\/em>:<\/h4>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"F0fIcwVtUv\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/people-in-the-bible\/scandalous-women-in-the-bible\/\">Scandalous Women in the Bible<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Scandalous Women in the Bible&#8221; &#8212; Biblical Archaeology Society\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/people-in-the-bible\/scandalous-women-in-the-bible\/embed\/#?secret=0R06VCoq0W#?secret=F0fIcwVtUv\" data-secret=\"F0fIcwVtUv\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"6wjXkEsLpE\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/people-in-the-bible\/how-bad-was-jezebel\/\">How Bad Was Jezebel?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;How Bad Was Jezebel?&#8221; &#8212; Biblical Archaeology Society\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/people-in-the-bible\/how-bad-was-jezebel\/embed\/#?secret=j6w3KWOKAv#?secret=6wjXkEsLpE\" data-secret=\"6wjXkEsLpE\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"YvUWc8WLeK\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/people-in-the-bible\/lilith\/\">Lilith<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Lilith&#8221; &#8212; Biblical Archaeology Society\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/people-in-the-bible\/lilith\/embed\/#?secret=QRgb1hOWVf#?secret=YvUWc8WLeK\" data-secret=\"YvUWc8WLeK\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"AKDgQqVnEX\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/biblical-topics\/hebrew-bible\/lilith-in-the-bible-and-mythology\/\">Lilith in the Bible and Mythology<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Lilith in the Bible and Mythology&#8221; &#8212; Biblical Archaeology Society\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/biblical-topics\/hebrew-bible\/lilith-in-the-bible-and-mythology\/embed\/#?secret=npU9mqnbHR#?secret=AKDgQqVnEX\" data-secret=\"AKDgQqVnEX\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"margin: 1.5em 0;\">All-Access members, read more in the <em>BAS Library<\/em>:<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/library.biblicalarchaeology.org\/article\/was-rahab-really-a-harlot\/\"><strong>Was Rahab Really a Harlot?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/library.biblicalarchaeology.org\/article\/forgotten-heroines-of-the-exodus\/\"><strong>Forgotten Heroines of the Exodus: The exclusion of women from Moses\u2019 vision<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/library.biblicalarchaeology.org\/article\/cult-prostitution-in-ancient-israel\/\"><strong>Cult Prostitution in Ancient Israel?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin: 1.5em 0 3em 0;\"><p><strong>Not a <em>BAS<\/em> Library or All-Access Member yet? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/subscribe-new\/?utm_term=W26009B0\">Join today.<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the Book of Joshua, Rahab assisted two Israelite spies in escaping out a window and down the city wall of Jericho. Who was Rahab in the Bible? A Biblical prostitute or just an innkeeper? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":60370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[31,167,36,118,40,1572,1653,1654,42,43,1886,1997,45,12,2543,2544,2601,2617,2771,139,60,114,5698,6237,179,145,146,13,7819,148,149,7955,8290,8581,8604,124,8771,223,8776,8834,8836,10448,153,10980,10988,10997,11450,11982,11983,12375,13164,13165,13489,13490,13492,13932,13937,15842,15844,16193,16243],"class_list":["post-26851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-in-the-bible","tag-ancient-israel","tag-archaeological-evidence","tag-archaeologist","tag-archaeologists","tag-archaeology-review","tag-bas-library","tag-bib-arch","tag-bib-arch-org","tag-bible-history","tag-bible-history-daily","tag-bible-interpretation","tag-bible-people","tag-biblical-arch","tag-biblical-archaeology-review","tag-biblical-prostitute","tag-biblical-prostitutes","tag-biblical-topics-2","tag-biblical-women","tag-bronze-age","tag-flavius-josephus","tag-hebrew","tag-hebrew-bible","tag-hebrew-words","tag-how-bad-was-jezebel","tag-iron-age","tag-israelites","tag-jeremiah","tag-jesus","tag-jezebel","tag-josephus","tag-joshua","tag-joshua-in-the-bible","tag-late-bronze-age","tag-love-your-neighbor","tag-magdalene","tag-mary","tag-mary-joan-winn-leith","tag-mary-magdalene","tag-mary-magdalene-a-prostitute","tag-mary-magdalene-wife","tag-mary-magdalene-wife-of-jesus","tag-people-in-the-bible","tag-prophet-jeremiah","tag-rahab","tag-rahab-in-the-bible","tag-rahab-the-harlot","tag-scandalous-women","tag-story-of-rahab","tag-story-of-rahab-in-the-bible","tag-the-bible-history","tag-the-story-of-rahab","tag-the-story-of-rahab-in-the-bible","tag-titus","tag-titus-flavius","tag-titus-flavius-josephus","tag-was-mary-magdalene","tag-was-mary-magdalene-a-prostitute","tag-who-was-rahab","tag-who-was-rahab-in-the-bible","tag-wife-of-jesus","tag-women-in-the-bible"],"acf":[],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[19,62,53],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":true,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rahab the Harlot? - Biblical Archaeology Society<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the Book of Joshua, Rahab (known as \u201cRahab the Harlot\u201d) assisted two Israelite spies in escaping out the city wall of Jericho.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/people-cultures-in-the-bible\/people-in-the-bible\/rahab-the-harlot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rahab the Harlot?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the Book of Joshua, Rahab assisted two Israelite spies in escaping out a window and down the city wall of Jericho. Who was Rahab in the Bible? 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